Allegedly Apolitical ESPN Rips Tiger Woods for Saying 'We All Must Respect the Office'
As a general rule of thumb, it does not take much to set off Stephen A. Smith. The ESPN pundit is well paid to go off on rants at even the most minimal of perceived slight.
And ever since joining “First Take” to replace the braying Skip Bayless with an equally yappy-dog counterpart to Smith, Max Kellerman has inherited his co-worker’s distaste for a reasoned response when a knee-jerk will do.
Which might explain how Kellerman came to call out Tiger Woods for a statement that shouldn’t be controversial.
Woods, after the final round of the Northern Trust golf tournament on Sunday, was asked about President Donald Trump and Woods’ relationship with the golf-loving head of state.
“He’s the president of the United States,” Tiger said. “You have to respect the office. No matter who is in the office, you may like, dislike personality or the politics, but we all must respect the office.”
Kellerman, reacting the way one might had Woods called for the government’s violent overthrow instead, erupted Monday on “First Take,” saying, “It really bothers me. I’m angry.”
He said Tiger’s comment was a “thoughtless statement dressed up as a thoughtful statement.”
Kellerman went on, saying, “And it either holds in contempt the intelligence of people who hear it or else it’s just a stupid thing to say. … To say you must have respect for the office — Tiger, be clear. Are you saying that the office, therefore, confers respect onto its present temporary occupant? No. Having respect for the office means principally, in my view, is the office holder should have respect for the office.
“We are held to a standard of behavior. We at our jobs, right? People in their daily lives. The president, if anything, is held to a higher standard of behavior. It is not such that we have such great respect for the office that no matter what the behavior of its occupant, we must therefore respect the occupant because of the office. No. Tiger Woods … is being slick. We must respect the office therefore that confers respect to the occupant. Tiger, is that what you are saying? If that is what you are saying, that is a stupid comment.”
Which, fine. Some liberals said that about George W. Bush, some conservatives said it about Barack Obama, now some liberals are saying it about Donald Trump, and the next time a Democrat wins the White House some conservatives will surely say it about him or her. “Respect the office” and its counterpart, “but not necessarily the office-holder,” have been political declarations in one form or another for a long time now.
Smith responded to Kellerman’s rant by saying, “First of all, we don’t know what Tiger Woods believes. He’s Cablinasian. He’s not black.”
Woods, for his part, said he’s played his share of golf with Trump and has known him for a long time.
“Well, I’ve known Donald for a number of years,” Tiger told reporters. “We’ve played golf together. We’ve had dinner together. I’ve known him pre-presidency and obviously during his presidency.”
Someone asked Woods to comment about race relations and politics in general, and Woods responded, “No. I just finished 72 holes and [I’m] really hungry,” before restricting the questions he would answer to those directly related to his performance on the golf course.
In other words, he stuck to sports.
ESPN, meanwhile, has had trouble with that concept lately.
The network’s ratings have tanked as on the one hand, “cord-cutting” has reduced the number of households with cable and on the other, ESPN’s tendency to jam a certain political viewpoint down the throats of its viewers with “woke” shows like “Get Up!” has turned off conservative viewers.
Indeed, in this same week, ESPN and political lightning rod Jemele Hill — best known for calling the president a “white supremacist” — agreed to part ways in part because the network is trying to court viewers back by trying to be more politically neutral and sticking to sports.
Kellerman’s outburst stands in sharp contrast to those efforts at rebranding on the “Worldwide Leader”’s part.
Will ESPN, under new management since James Pitaro replaced John Skipper, practice what Pitaro is preaching and discipline Kellerman for stepping out of line?
Or will all of its posturing about becoming less political and more sports-oriented be just so much hot air from empty corporate suits?
Only time will tell.
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